The Language of the Flowers was a popular method to express feelings where words might be improper, but did you know other means of doing so? Some ladies used their parasols, as well as their fans, gloves, and hankies to flirt with a gentleman (or alternatively, tell them to shove it!). — Bree

“This boy, then. He wasn't new. Wasn't one of the worst people in the common room, those rotten rich boys - like Mr. Jailkeeper - who could not fathom a world beyond their own farts. Was a good working class lad, so he'd heard. Had a bit of a weird looking face, and a bit of a weird thing for preaching. Still.”

After a month of busy preparations, the Ophelia and her sister ship Voyager departed London yesterday afternoon with the intention to discover the legendary isle of Avalon.

Avalon is reputed to be the final resting place of King Arthur, the last British monarch to have fully integrated the magical and Muggle worlds. Texts from the days of Merlin and King Arthur have become steeped in legend and myth, making the island's exact location (or its existence at all) a mystery.

The expedition will make its way south from London and then head north through St. George's Channel and into the Irish Sea, where many scholars believe the witches cabal lead by Morgan le Fay must have sailed with the body of King Arthur. The two ships are outfitted with methods for detecting magically hidden locations, and will rechart these seas to see what, if anything, may have been missed by the her Majesty's Muggle Royal Navy. The ships will continue around the Scottish coast before descending through the North Sea towards London once again, in a circumvention of the British Isles scheduled to take nearly three months.

"It's very unlikely that we will find any occupied islands," clarified the expediton's leader, Commodore Jones. "As they almost certainly couldn't have coexisted for so long with magical Britain and avoided detection. We are, however, hopeful that we might uncover ruins or artifacts that can provide us a vital link to this very important era of magical history."

Some are hoping to uncover the grave of Merlin, which has never been located, though there is no textual evidence that he was interred in Avalon.

The expedition will return in late June, barring any disasters or set-backs. The last expedition staged by this company — billed as a 'consulting Navy,' which typically provides contracted work for shipping agencies to combat piracy or to escort shipping vessels — met a disastrous end in 1882 when the shipwreck of the Sycorax left the crew and sailors stranded in South America. One of the two surviving members of the expedition, J. Alfred Darrow, is currently serving as the Captain of the Voyager.